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Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the first round of the battle of theTour de France stars in Sunday’s prologue at the Dauphiné Libéré– but just barely. Mayo made up for being second in Saturday’s Classique des Alpes andupstaged Americans Tyler Hamilton (Phonak) and Lance Armstrong (U.S. PostalService) in the 5.4km prologue to open the eight-day race high in the FrenchAlps in what’s the final exam for many favorites heading into next month’sTour. Phonak’s Oscar Pereiro, fresh off his victory in Saturday’s Alps Classic,set a fast early time but Mayo came through less than a second faster

After surrendering the title for a year to Canadian Lyne Bessette (Quark), Petra Rossner (Nurnberger) reasserted her dominance in the Wachovia Liberty Classic, rocketing to a seventh win in a bunch gallop

World champions became World Cup leaders in the first round of the Downhill World Cup Sunday in Fort William, Scotland. Anne-Caroline Chausson (Commencal-Oxbow) and Greg Minnaar (Team G-Cross Honda) both rode totally new bikes to their victories as well. The 2.66km course required a complete range of skills, with fast, rocky, technical sections at the top, a high-speed section in the middle and a series of jumps spread throughout. Add the constant showers that swept through the region to make slick surfaces, and you had a true World Cup course. Despite not liking the course, Chausson was

Mayo works his way to a win

Armstrong can't imagine retirement

Hamilton

Leipheimer

Chausson doesn't like the course, but winning always feels good

It's all downhill from here

Minnaar airs it out

Sieben

The largest field ever

Bessette couldn't start a streak of her own

Rossner is a tough act to follow

He likes this color scheme

Great field and great conditions

Pate and Henderson

Sayers and the Health Net crew added power to the break

Julich gives it a shot

Horner and Barry

Rodriguez goes back to Spain with a familiar jersey

Grove's move was quickly covered by Arndt

Look introduced a line of high-tech, French-made carbon goodies during the company’s 2005 product unveiling Thursday in San Jose, California. Most impressive is the latest incarnation of the HSC fork line, the HSC 5 SL. Retailing for $500, this all-carbon fork is truly “all-carbon.” Using a new proprietary process working with super-high-modulus carbon fiber, Look has been able to produce the first road fork with a carbon steerer, legs and even drop-outs. No bonding is used in the production of this breakthrough fork; instead, the unit is molded as one continuous element. “This is designed

For the third consecutive week Gunn-Rita Dahle (Merida) won the women's World Cup cross-country race, and for the third consecutive week there was a new winner in the men's race, with Christoph Sauser (Siemens Mobile Cannondale) soloing in ahead of teammate and World Cup leader Roel Paulissen. It was no surprise to see Dahle off the front by the end of the first of four laps, but the woman chasing her was new: Marie-Helene Premont (Oryx). Premont rode an impressive race - only her third of the season - and only conceded 1:46 to Dahle by the end, the closest result of this season. "I was

Spain's Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) won the 186km sixth stage of the Tour of Germany on Saturday while Germany's Patrik Sinkewitz (Quick Step-Davitamon) courageously defended his overall lead in this difficult stage from Kulmbach to Oberwiesenthal. Mancebo was the strongest on the final 6km climb toward the Fichtelberg summit at 1214 meters, crossing in 4:54:49, beating German Jens Voigt (CSC), second overall, and race leader Sinkewitz. The 1997 Tour de France winner, Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), finished 37 seconds back in 12th spot and dropped from third to seventh overall. The

The final — and most important — day of the three-race Wachovia Cycling Series is set to go, and the man to beat is American Fred Rodriguez. At least that’s the hot tip based on betting odds posted by Sportsbook.com. The online casino has made the winner of Thursday’s race in Trenton, New Jersey, a 5-to-2 favorite in the field of 178 riders that will contest the 156-mile USPRO Championship in Philadelphia starting at 9 EST Sunday morning. But Rodriguez, who is coming off three hard weeks at the Giro d’Italia, isn’t so sure the smart money will be on him. The Acqua & Sapone rider knows he

The all-carbon Look HSC 5 SL

The 585, also available in straight black

The Keo

A new cleat, too, with Teflon lips and heel

Mancebo was strongest on the final climb

Pereiro powers to the finish

Dahle dominates once more

Premont surprised herself and everyone else by finishing second

Paulissen and Sauser did their Alphonse-and-Gaston number again

This time, it was Sauser's turn to win

Chausson (surprise) won the women's 4X

But Tschugg was the upset winner in the men's race

“I’ve got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it.” Groucho Marx"Duck Soup" Roberto Gaggioli is out for the season, I hear. No worries. He should be able to find suitable temporary employment while he’s serving his suspension — say, as a debt collector for a New Jersey loan shark, a job in which going after someone with a club is all part of the day’s work. As all gossip-loving leg-shavers should know by now, thanks to the rumor mill, our own Neal Rogers and USA Cycling, the Monex rider-director is said to have armed himself with a 2-by-4 for a chat with Jonny Sundt

The Tour of Montréal is a three-day, four-stage race. It starts out with a 3km prologue in Lachine, the hometown of Geneviève Jeanson, the Machine from Lachine. We jet out and around a tiny peninsula on bike paths, making a few sharp turns along the wa, and winner and losers are separated by fractions of a second. This course is quick and suits a rider who corners well. Tina Mayolo-Pic, one of the best criterium sprinters in America, took top honors. She blazed the course and finished a half second ahead of me. A few hours later, we headed to Little Italy, where we had an evening criterium.

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.On Gaggioli and vengeanceEditor:Roberto Gaggioli better watch out. He may wake up with a severed headset, stem and handlebars in a puddle of Phil Wood grease in his bed after what he did to that poor bike. Craig ForesterCincinnati, Ohio We

Joseba Beloki has slammed Tour de France organizers and his own French team, La Boulangere, for not allowing him to take prescribed asthma medication while racing. The Spaniard, who has finished on the Tour de France podium three times from 2000 to 2002, was back on the road this week after breaking a leg in a dramatic crash during last year's Tour, when he was being pursued by five-time race winner Lance Armstrong. Beloki blamed his struggle in the first two stages of this week's Bicicleta Vasca on not being able to treat his asthma attacks because the medicine he has used since childhood

Following last week’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, the United States has qualified for six track cycling events at the Olympic Games, including three women’s events and three men’s events. According to USA Cycling, the U.S. has received one start position each in the men’s team sprint, keirin, and points race. For women, the U.S. has one start position each in the sprint, 500-meter time trial and individual pursuit. Start positions were granted based on performance at the world championships and the overall 2004 UCI Track World Cup standings. While the

With apologies to Stan Lee ...

Dede contemplates the road ahead

Cranking out the watts in the TT

The final podium: from left, Dede, Tina and Lyne

Dear Bob,My team pays for travel and recently informed us that they own ourfrequent flyer miles and that we are to turn them back into the team.I seem to recall a legal case dealing with this issue. Can they do thislegally and what are the tax implications?Definitely Anonymous Dear D.A.,To begin, there are no potential tax implications regardless of whetheryou, or your team retains frequent flyer miles acquired via business travel.In 2002, after years of speculation and confusion surrounding the issueof potential tax implications for frequent flyer miles, the IRS issuedAnnouncement 2002-18,

I can’t stand it. The suspense is killing me. No, I’m not talking about the recent verdict on Monex team rider-director Roberto Gaggioli’s appeal hearing with USA Cycling, held Friday, May 28. (More on that below, but for those with short attention spans, Gaggioli was suspended through the end of the 2004 season for assaulting Jittery Joe’s rider Jonny Sundt with a 2x4.) And no, I’m not referring to the recently released list of American men invited to the Team USA selection road race, held June 19 in Redlands, California. (Again, keep reading.) What I am referring to is the upcoming

Looking over my notes from the Big Bear national mountain bike race, I realize there were quite a few interesting bits of info that I wasn’t able to include in the print article I wrote for VeloNews issue No. 10. First off, this third round of the 2004 off-road race season had more roll-outs than an oriental rug factory, so here are my brief notes on the following subjects: Mongoose FreedriveMongoose’s Chris Holmes grabbed my arm and hustled me into the Mongoose pits to take a peek at a bit of 2005 ‘Goose tech. While I had the opportunity to see some initial drawings of its Freedrive system

The highlight of the American racing calendar is the Wachovia week in Philadelphia. It is a week of racing that draws the most interest from spectators and media and is also the week of racing that hosts the strongest pelotons to race on North American soil. Of the three races Lancaster is perhaps the hardest course with its undulating and sinuous course. The peloton is full of motivated racers and the attacks are usually incessant for the entire 145 km event. Often times rain storms or thundershowers grease up the streets and add extra difficulty to the already technical course. This

Times are tough for Spanish rider Joseba Beloki. The three-time Tour de France podium finisher is struggling in the hilly Bicicleta Vasca in northern Spain this week with allergies and then heard from journalists the news that his French team Brioches La Boulangere is pulling the plug on the team at the end of this season. The team’s title sponsor announced Thursday it would not continue underwriting the team past the 2004 season due to mounting costs of joining the planned UCI Pro Tour for the 2005 season. “I just heard the news from a journalist, but the team can continue if we can find a

It was hard to believe Fred Rodriguez even made it to the finish in Trenton, New Jersey, let alone grabbed the win. The American spent much of late Thursday afternoon tinkering with misadjusted seat height, even getting off his bike twice to try to get things sorted out. Finally Rodriguez simply gave up and dealt with the problem, before flying down the final straightaway on West State Street to take the bunch sprint in the second leg of the Wachovia Cycling Series. “I got on my bike this morning and it felt like the seat was a little low,” Rodriguez explained after taking his second win of

Tech Report: A few more product previews

Tech Report: A few more product previews

Tech Report: A few more product previews

Tech Report: A few more product previews

We hit the ground running in Lancaster.

Max gets a solo win.

John Lieswyn and Rodoslaw Romanik

CSC leads the chase

Wachovia week: Rodriguez takes Trenton

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Make some noise here, eh?Editor;How come no headlines about Gaggiolis' suspension? His behavior wascriminal and should be addressed as such.  Sundts' not pressing chargesisn't helping the next guy, and VeloNews not following up about the

Young German rider Patrick Sinkewitz’s edged Spanish mountain goat Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) to win Wednesday’s tough climbing stage and move into the overall lead at the Tour of Germany. The 170km stage Wangen to St. Anton hit the 1793-meter Arlberg pass, which shattered the lead group and spelled the end of Michael Rich’s hold on the leader’s jersey. Sinkewitz broke with about 50km to go and counted on support from Paolo Bettini who was also part of the breakaway. “The team was fantastic and Bettini was along side me in the more difficult moments,” said Sinkewitz after taking his

The biggest week of road racing on the U.S. calendar gets rolling late Tuesday afternoon in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with the first leg of the 2004 Wachovia Cycling Series. An expected field of 196 riders will take on 91 miles over 13 laps through Lancaster’s streets and Central Park, vying for a piece of the $20,000 purse. Several short hills and some tricky turns will make this a race for only the strong men. A year ago toughest of the group was CSC’s Jakob Piil, who soloed away from what was left of a shattered field late in the race to take a rain soaked 1:18 victory over Saturn’s Mark

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) continued on his winning ways Tuesday after taking a sprint in the second stage of the Tour of Germany. Set-up by Stefano Zanini and Paolo Bettini, Boonen edged Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) and Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) to take his 10th win of the 2004 season. “I was able to count on a super team who works very hard in the final 30 kilometers,” Boonen said after winning. “The whole team worked to put me in the ideal conditions to make the sprint. In the last kilometers, Bettini and then Zanini completed a masterpiece. I’m not at 100 percent of my condition, but I

The opening stop of the Wachovia Cycling Series has always been known as a strongman’s race. With three punchy climbs on the seven-mile circuit that winds its way in and out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, it’s not a place for pure sprinters or waif climbers. You better have a little bit of both in you if you want to win this one. Certainly this year’s victor did nothing to dispel that notion. Dutchman Max Van Heeswijk is your classic tough guy, who now has eight wins in 2004 as proof of his diversity. This one, which went down on a mostly sunny Tuesday afternoon in southeast Pennsylvania, came

Boonen makes it look easy

Ullrich remains in second overall

Julich tries his hand

A wet start